One of the best aspects of the Head-Fi revolution has been the growth of high-end Chinese brands in the market; Topping, Questyle, and Xduoo have all successfully carved out niches for themselves in the desktop headphone category and all of them offer highly competitive products at prices that a lot of consumers can afford. The new Drop+Xduoo TA-84 OTL Headphone Amplifier that was announced today has us excited for a number of reasons — and not just because it offers a lot of value at $399 USD — which you can already get for less if you order now.
The TA-84 is a collaboration between the two brands and there is no question that Drop was instrumental in bringing the Sennheiser HD650 to a much larger audience with their HD6xx headphone.
The success of the collaboration surprised both Drop and Sennheiser and forced them to make the HD6xx a permanent product rather than just a group buy opportunity.
We would not be taking a huge leap suggesting that the Drop HD6xx, HD600, HD650, and Drop HD58x are the most popular audiophile headphones sold over the past decade.
Because of that level of success, Drop decided that it needed to offer a new headphone amplifier for its existing headphones lineup.
TA-84
The new TA-84 DAC/Headphone Amplifier is an OTL (Output Transformerless) design that utilizes EL84 power tubes and 12AU7 driver tubes. Xduoo’s TA-26 OTL Headphone Amplifier which was clearly the inspiration for the new amplifier does not include a DAC and also utilizes a single 6SN7 driver tube and 6AS7 output tube instead. The TA-84 uses a single EL84 tube per channel.
For a deskstop DAC/Headphone Amplifier, the TA-84 is on the larger side measuring almost 12″ W x 5″ D x 6″ H and weighing 6.6 pounds. The anodized aluminum case gives the unit a rather hefty feel in your hands.
I plan on discussing the 12AU7 and EL84 tubes during my formal review and will also be doing some tube rolling to see how the performance changes. The stock unit comes with PSVANE-branded tubes and provides 93mW of power into 600 ohms with a voltage swing of roughly 6 Volts.
The output is only 18mW into 32 ohms which means that the amplifier is not recommended for headphones with an impedance of less than 100 ohms as the OTL topology is best suited for high-impedance dynamic headphones.
Because there is a wide range of sensitivity ratings in regard to high-impedance headphones, there is a gain switch (+0/+16dB) on the front panel which we will be testing with a selection of dynamic models. The frequency response is listed as 10Hz- 80kHz (+/- 0.5dB) with a SNR of 102db and a THD+N of <1%.
Whilst the TA-84 can be used as a stand-alone headphone amplifier using the supplied RCA inputs on the rear panel, there is also a USB input option with a control switch so that users can select from either option.
The USB input supports Windows, Mac OS, Android, and iOS so a broad range of source devices can be used.The digital input feeds an ES9018K2M DAC and supports up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD up to DSD256. MQA is not supported.
The DAC section has an SNR of 113dB with a THD+N of 0.002% (at 1kHz) and gives those on a budget, the option to use the internal DAC rather than having to purchase an additional component.
Users who already own more sophisticated DACs will want to try the RCA inputs to compare the two options.
We already have an advance sample and will be publishing our review prior to the October 31st ship date.
The “Early Bird” $299 price is available until the end of launch day 9/19/2023. The price will go up to $329 for the next 7 days. After that, the preorder price of $349 will be available until end of the first run. The run is limited to only 200 units.
For more information: drop.com
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ORT
September 20, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Nice looking? Yes!! But how does it look in the dark?
If I may paraphrase to fit the subject?
“I live for the light for it shows me the road ahead and yet I will gladly suffer in darkness because it reveals the stars…And in this case, the soft glow of the tubes.”
robORT Frost 😉
Ian White
September 20, 2023 at 2:57 pm
ORT,
You light up my light. Too soon? 😉
IW
ORT
September 21, 2023 at 5:18 pm
Ian, I shall go gladly into the light…Especially if it is the blue light of Mac VU Meters! 😉
“Cross over children. All are welcome. All welcome. Go into the Light. There is peace and serenity in the Light.”
ORT
Ian White
September 21, 2023 at 5:53 pm
Don’t tell that to Carol-Anne.
Is it possible that she was sucked into one of their amplifiers?
IW